The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is taking the initiative to create and institutionalise a platform that allows for a continuous dialogue and opportunity for the Ghanaian community abroad to interact with their country in productive and mutually beneficial ways. Consequently, the centre will be organising a summit in Ghana next year for Ghanaians living abroad. The summit, dubbed Homecoming Summit, is scheduled to be held in Accra from July 2-4 under the theme "Harnessing the Global Resource Potential for Accelerated National Development". It has the slogan "Motherland Call: Together we create the nation's wealth".

Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Chief Executive of the GIPC, announced this when he launched the Homecoming Summit in Accra on Wednesday.

The objectives of the summit, mooted by Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills, are to develop a process for the renewal of confidence of Ghanaians living abroad in their country, enhance dialogue and explore opportunities for productive relations between them and their country.

It is also to identify the means to tap into their acquired capacities for the creation of the national wealth.

About 1,000 Ghanaians are expected to attend the summit, which will provide a forum for interaction between participants, government officials, as well as representatives of public and private institutions and the business community.

It will also concretise such policies as networking opportunities, improving services for Ghanaians abroad and Ghanaian consulates, owning a home in Ghana, dual citizenship as it applies to the Ghanaian abroad, building a database for Ghanaians living abroad and matching job vacancies with available expertise abroad.

Mr Ahwoi said over 1.5 million Ghanaians live abroad with a total annual contribution of about 300 to 400 million dollars into the national economy at an informal level.

Mr Kweku Sekyiama, Chief Director, Information Services Department (ISD), who chaired the ceremony, said participants would be coming from 12 identified countries where Ghanaians are clustered. These include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe